For example, in a large number of restaurants such as a family restaurant and a bar, an order management system that can centrally manage jobs from order taking to checkout for food and drink menus is installed (see JP-A-2008-299821). The system disclosed in JP-A-2008-299821 includes a checkout apparatus such as an electronic cache register or a point of sales (POS) set in a register that is a checkout place for payment, a station configured to execute, for example, management of various kinds of information transmitted from the checkout apparatus, a slip issuing printer connected to the checkout apparatus and configured to print and issue an order slip, and a kitchen printer configured to print and output a cooking instruction slip. In the system disclosed in JP-A-2008-299821, the station, the slip issuing printer, the kitchen printer, and the checkout apparatus are connected via a communication line such as a local area network (LAN).
With the checkout apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2008-299821, an operator inputs an order by touching a menu item button of a menu item space in an order input screen. When the operator executes tasks (e.g., input of office arrival time or office leaving time) other than the input of an order, the order input screen is switched to a screen for executing the other tasks. Therefore, in the checkout apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2008-299821, when the order input screen is switched to the screen for executing the other tasks, the operator cannot input an order. Therefore, operability is poor and a burden on the operator is heavy.